Density of intrathecal agents.

Abstract

The density of a drug in solution cannot be determined from a simple formula or from physicochemical tables, because it depends on the physical state of that substance in solution. The densities of agents which have been reported to be administered by the intrathecal route were measured at room and body temperatures. The results were compared with the density of cerebrospinal fluid. At room temperature, most drugs were isobaric with respect to cerebrospinal fluid, but as drugs warmed to body temperature they became relatively hypobaric.